That's All, Spokes: Colorado Town Bans Cyclists

That's All, Spokes: Colorado Town Bans Cyclists

by

Helen Pidd and Agencies

Cycling has been banned since 5 June in Black Hawk, Colorado. (Photograph: H Armstrong Roberts/Getty Images)

A town in the US has banned cyclists on most of its streets,
punishing anyone who gets caught with a $68 (£46) fine. Black Hawk in
Colorado, which has a population of just above 100, is thought to be
the first town in the US to make cycling illegal after a change in civic law.

The
curious decree has been introduced for "health and safety" reasons,
said administrators of the former goldmining town, which in the 1990s
decided to develop gambling to prevent the place vanishing altogether.

Michael
Copp, Black Hawk's city manager, the equivalent of chief executive of a
local council in the UK, admitted there had not been any accidents to
prompt the ban, just concern over potential collisions between motor
vehicles and bicycles on 19th-century streets that were designed for
horses and carriages.

The town started enforcing the ban on 5
June, five months after it passed the law requiring cyclists to
dismount and wheel their bikes through the town. So far eight tickets
have been issued, said Copp.

Copp, who does not cycle himself,
said the council passed the ordinance after the town experienced a
surge in traffic – buses, delivery trucks, and motorists – following a
law that increased the maximum betting limits from $5 to $100 once it
chose gambling as its raison d'etre.

The ban applies only to the
narrow 19th century thoroughfares in a town that is lined with historic
buildings and new casinos, not the few residential streets. Cyclists
riding in on Colorado highway 279, a main route through the town, would
have to dismount and walk about 400 metres, Copp said.

"This
ordinance is necessary for the preservation of health and safety and
for the protection of public convenience and welfare," says the law,
which is set out on the Black Hawk website.

"The
rules will allow bicycle traffic that originates locally to continue to
operate with City Manager authorisation, while still assuring that such
traffic can operate in a manner that is not incompatible with vehicular
traffic," says another clause.

Cyclists' lobbies are gearing up to challenge the law, which they say is illegal.

"The
danger here is the precedent," Dan Grunig of Bicycle Colorado, an
advocacy group, said. "We don't believe it's right or legal and we want
to make sure it's addressed before it's spread any further."

Grunig's group, which claims 7,000 members statewide, has appealed to national groups to help.

"An
outright ban on being able to ride a bicycle through a community is
unheard of in any other community in the country, said Charlie Zeeger,
director of the Pedestrian and Bicycling Information Center at the
University of North Carolina.

But Black Hawk seems proud to be
first. "At this point the council has no intention of repealing the
ban," Copp said. "They believe their actions are what's best for its
citizens in Black Hawk, which are casinos and their patrons."

Further

Lord, what would John Lennon have made of the Trump monster? Marking Thursday's 36th anniversary of Lennon's murder, Yoko Ono posted a plea for gun control, calling his death "a hollowing experience" and pleading, "Together, let's bring back America, the green land of Peace." With so many seeking solace in these ugly times, mourns one fan, "Oh John, you really should be here." Lennon conceded then, and likely would now, "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."